Art Works By Dan Graham

The art industry is still a lively and spirited field, but it faces challenges in today’s society unseen in its past specifically regarding to who is participating in the arts. Currently, today’s art audiences are mostly likely to be composed of older, richer individuals and women as well. Research has shown that younger, less wealthy and ethic individuals are shown to have lost interest in the arts and are less likely to participate (Tepper & Gao, 2008). This change in demographics posed an important question for researchers – were these individuals simply no longer interested in the arts or was the current definition of participation no longer applicable to how these audiences participated in the arts? In conclusion, today’s changing demographics reflect how individuals may be participating in the arts in ways that are not known to be measured or may

     Art, in each and every form that it comes in, shows us who we are. Our

11, but is it a good enough reason to spend millions of dollars on one of his paintings? In fact, Rothko’s 1961 painting Orange, Red, Yellow was bought for $86.9 million in May 2012 at Christie’s in New York setting a record for the abstract expressionist painter according to David Ng. However, in 2011, a Cézanne painting, The Card Players sold for $250 million smashing the record for the highest price paid for any artwork sold at auction (Stern). This may seem outrageous to some, but for those who are opulent, “brands are king in fine art. Names like Rothko and Pollock distinguish them from unknown artists the same way the Coke and Pepsi brands distinguish them from other sugar water (Mayyasi).” According to the article “Why is Art Expensive?”, these brands, such as Rothko, Pollock, and Warhol, retain their value and appreciate over time. As someone who does not participate in the lavish art auctions, it’s hard to understand Christie’s $745 million art auction in May of 2013 as anything other than unreasonable. Yet buyers in the art market proclaim these purchases as investments (Mayyasi). On the other hand, in a report entitled “Profit or Pleasure? Exploring the Motivations Behind Treasure Trends”, only a tenth of two thousand wealthy individuals questioned bought art as an investment, whereas, seventy-five percent purchased art to feel victorious at the auction and have cultural

Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it

“The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.”

The “What makes Art Valuable?” video took the viewer through a journey of the top 10 most expensive paintings purchased. Oftentimes, these high tag prices were being sold in an art auction. Alastair Sooke took us on a journey through the art world, so that we could better understand the true value and key as to what makes art so valuable. Through this journey, we learned the political side of the art world in which the value of a painting was connected with the buyers based on love, prestige, investment, an ultimate luxury item, or approval of one's peers. Alastair Sooke started out with the number ten art piece that sold for a total of $$$$, then he ended with the most expensive art piece ever purchased called “Nude, Green leaves and Bust”

In episode three of The Secret of Drawing “All in the Mind” Andrew Graham journeys around to see how art and the mind are linked together, in wonder if they are linked unconsciously or consciously. Andrew first takes us to the British Museum to talk to an artist about their work. They thought that work was self-revealing and is a way to portray self through art with the usage of light, line and our own thoughts to make art. As young children, we use to draw things that were inhibited and were used to get a sense of the world, such as mommy, daddy, familial pet and so on. The one thing that we all had in common was that the first thing we learned to draw was the human shape. The drawings were not necessarily how we adults would draw them as they were abstract and playful with no concept of how they were actually supposed to look. We are taken to an example of trying to find our inner child again through a live-model art class. In the class students could draw what they felt, how they felt, not controlled by any one style. Artists can call upon their inner selves, thoughts, feelings and etc. when drawing, when doing this they are essentially freeing themselves. These drawings could be purely artistic or full of intellectual thought. For the untrained eye, we focus on many different parts at once instead of light and shading.

Because of this, it is important that those responsible for the selection of artworks to not only consider the historical value of each exhibit, but also the possible revenue. It is important to avoid a “lack of consensus about the composition of . . . permanent collection and the direction [the] collecting should take in the future” (Source A). Without careful consideration, “financial woes [will be] exacerbated by a poor management structure, a result of a decentralized system” (Source A). However, the subject of money also brings criticism; some believe that financial gain is an “unlawful and immoral spoliation of art” (Source F) and “[a] work is chosen for reproduction, not because of its place within an educational context, or because of its intrinsic aesthetic worth, but because of its marketability” (Source D). While this is a valid thought, we must remember that if a work of art was not culturally and aesthetically appealing, it would fail to bring in funding anyway as its popularity would decrease. The biggest “money-making” displays are successful because they are appreciated by such a large audience, thus “achiev[ing] the proper balance whereby the educational goals maintain their ascendancy and the profits grow” (D). If a museum was truly run by greed and a desire for financial success, the public would lose interest in the lack of historical context and the museum would ultimately become bankrupt regardless of how “financially adequate” the works of art are. Because of this harmonious balance, museum representatives must carefully select works of art that attract enough visitors to shovel in profit and consistent funding for such historical and artistic

“To us, art is an adventure into an unknown world of the imagination which is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is

Patronage was an essential aspect to the life of a painter. While some artists could sell their works commercially on the market,

“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.” – Robert Motherwell

Commercial art is cheap and overrated. This is a widely held and accepted belief among the public and the artist community, despite the majority of the public owning commercial art over classic or completely unique pieces of art. If art is reproduced over and over, then it is less valuable. But if more people enjoy it enough to buy the reproduced work, then it is more valuable because it is better received. This has been a conflict for decades, especially during the Victorian era, where photography was discovered as a technical skill rather than an artistic one; this is reflected in the literature of the time, specifically Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy. She uses this novel to argue that artists who produce commercial art still have artistic

“The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity”

This, to me, shows that he creates his art for the public to view not to make money off of his artwork.

The relationship between art and commerce has always been subject of hot discussion. Many people look at creativity as a vehicle for economic interest, while others view it as pure dedication for personal creative needs. The world as we live in today sees the creative industry, including visual and performing arts, sound recording, book publishing, and movie making, a highly commercialized global enterprise. People constantly buy and sell art products in a highly active market. Although it is difficult to conclude whether art and commerce is perfectly compatible or mutually exclusive, one thing is true, that the relationship between the two has not stayed constant throughout the history of art. From the early Renaissance period to contemporary and modern time, we see art gets intertwined with business more and more. There are multiple well known historical examples demonstrate the dynamic evolution of creative expression, though new system also brought challenges.